Crossing Over - Anna Kendall [62]
“Go away, Roger, I haven’t time for you. No, wait—what news? No, wait, why are these apples so mealy?”
I knew more about girls than I once had. Lady Cecilia was responsible for that. Deftly I elbowed Maggie aside and began kneading the bread myself, freeing her to concentrate on adding spices to the apples. I said, “The savages are camped on the north bank of the river, in Fairfield and beyond. All the villagers have left Fairfield, the soldiers on the ramparts saw them flee. So far the savages have not harmed anyone. The Blues are camped on the plain beyond Darton Ford, they can barely be seen from even the top of the tower, and nobody thinks there will be any more fighting until tomorrow morning at the earliest. What of your brother?”
“With the Blue army.”
“Have you heard any more than I just said?”
“Don’t knead so hard, Roger, it’s bread not stone! I heard only that the first ‘battle’ hardly deserved the name. The savages marched in and when the Blue archers let loose their arrows, the savages used their fire-sticks and—”
“Their what?”
“Don’t stop kneading! Have you never before made bread? The savages have new weapons. Fire comes from the end of their metal sticks—fire and small fast projectiles they call ‘bullets.’ A few men died and then the Blues ran away.”
I had never heard of such weapons. From her face, neither had Maggie. She whipped sweet cream as if it had sinned, her face pulled taut with wonder and fear. But, being Maggie, she kept talking.
“The Blues will regroup, everyone says so. Now, you tell me—what has the queen promised the savages in return for their help in securing The Queendom?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at me straight. Her fair hair straggled down her face, and her gray eyes were serious. She looked pretty. Not as beautiful as my Cecilia, of course, but still . . .
What was I doing thinking about girlish beauty now? I said, “I really don’t know what the queen promised. But I’m to be at the dinner, and perhaps I’ll find out then.”
She stared at me. “You’re to be at the dinner? The dinner for the savage lords?”
“Yes.” And then it was all between us again, what I had told her about crossing over, about my mother dying on Soulvine Moor. She did not trust me. I could feel her withdrawal, sure as a swift tide.
“I have work to do, Roger.”
“I’m going,” I said coldly. Damn her—I was doing the best I could. And now I knew why Queen Caroline had looked so serene all the days of the siege. She knew what powerful new weapons her savage allies would bring. I wanted to go up on the ramparts, or even climb the bell tower, to see the situation for myself, but I didn’t dare. I still must go only where the queen sent me. I was still the queen’s fool.
The dinner for Lord Solek and his captains took place in the queen’s new presence chamber, which had been transformed. Gone were the cool blues and grays of Queen Eleanor. The stewards, rushing around shouting and cursing all afternoon, had remade the royal chambers. Green cloth hung on the walls, where cloth had never been before, gathered into draperies and festoons tied with jeweled green ribbons. Lest the place look too feminine, shields hung between the velvets and satins. The high table was draped in green damask, and at it sat the queen, Lord Robert, her three most trusted advisors, Lord Solek and three of his chieftains, and a translator. Also, to my surprise, three-year-old Princess Stephanie. Purple was the princess’s color and her gown was a miniature of her mother’s, but with a much higher neckline. She sat pale and grave, and on her lank hair was a small golden circlet set with a single amethyst.
The rest of the court sat at lower tables in the chamber, all below a hastily constructed platform on which the masque would occur. I, with the Green guard, stood behind the high table, reconciled to being unfed. “I shall want you tonight,” the queen had said. “Listen to everything.”
As it happened, there was little information to listen to. The queen and her advisors began by offering the usual compliments to the visitors, all through